The first season of Legendary’s MonsterVerse TV series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters ran on Apple TV+ from November into January (you can read our own Alex Maidy’s review of the first batch of episodes HERE), and now the showrunners are moving ahead on a season 2 that’s aiming to be bigger and better. Today, the first bit of major news about the new season has dropped online, as Variety has revealed that Amber Midthunder of the Predator movie Prey has been cast in a heavily recurring role! Midthunder will be playing a character named Isabel, who is described as being “an intelligent and powerful businesswoman.”

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters is the latest chapter in Legendary Entertainment’s MonsterVerse series, which currently consists of Godzilla, Kong: Skull Island, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Godzilla vs. Kong, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, and the Netflix animated series Skull Island.

The ten episode first season was set after “the thunderous battle between Godzilla and the Titans that leveled San Francisco and the shocking revelation that monsters are real” (as seen in Godzilla 2014). It tracks two siblings following in their father’s footsteps to uncover their family’s connection to the secretive organization known as Monarch. Clues lead them into the world of monsters and ultimately down the rabbit hole to Army officer Lee Shaw, taking place in the 1950s and half a century later where Monarch is threatened by what Shaw knows. The dramatic saga – spanning three generations – reveals buried secrets and the ways that epic, earth-shattering events can reverberate through our lives.

The cast includes Anna Sawai, Kurt Russell, Wyatt Russell, Kiersey Clemons, Ren Watabe, Mari Yamamoto, Anders Holm, Joe Tippett, and Elisa Lasowski.

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters comes our way from Legendary Television. Matt Shakman (WandaVision) directed the first two episodes. Black, Fraction, and Shakman executive produce the series with Joby Harold and Tory Tunnell from Safehouse Pictures, as well as Andy Goddard, Brad Van Arragon, and Andrew Colville. Hiro Matsuoka and Takemasa Arita executive produce on behalf of Toho Co., Ltd., the owner of the Godzilla character.

What do you think of Amber Midthunder joining the cast of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters season 2? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

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After playing a dangerous lottery game with John Cena and Awkwafina for the action comedy Jackpot!, Paul Feig could tackle the upcoming Lionsgate feature The Housemaid, starring Sydney Sweeney (Anyone But You, Madame Web) and Amanda Seyfried (Mean Girls, The Crowded Room) about family secrets coming to light. Sweeney and Seyfried are in final negotiations to join the Hidden Pictures/Feigco Entertainment thriller written by Rebecca Sonnenshine, based on the bestselling novel by Freida McFadden.

In addition to their starring roles, Sweeney and Seyfried executive produce alongside Alex Young and McFadden. Hidden Pictures’ Todd Lieberman will produce.

Here is the official logline for The Housemaid courtesy of Lionsgate:

In the film, Sweeney will play Millie, a struggling young woman who is relieved to get a fresh start as a housemaid to Nina (Seyfried) and Andrew, an upscale, wealthy couple… but soon learns that the family’s secrets are far more dangerous than her own.

“I’m thrilled to have The Housemaid join our upcoming slate. A great filmmaker and a great cast with a great script from a great book is a terrific place to start. My prior work experiences with Paul and Amanda have been nothing short of spectacular, and Sydney is as talented and compelling as can be,” said Adam Fogelson, chair of Lionsgate Motion Picture Group.

Erin Westerman, co-president of the Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, added, “The Housemaid is a certified phenomenon with over a year on the New York Times Bestsellers list, millions of copies sold, and a place on numerous critics’ choice lists. Part of the fun of the book was imagining the cast while we read it, and Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried are perfect for Millie and Nina – they’re both mysterious, nuanced, and incredibly skilled at becoming characters who don’t reveal everything right away. We’re thrilled to team them with Paul Feig, who we worked with on A Simple Favor and its upcoming sequel, and has a proven track record of developing stories with dynamic female leads.”

Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried approach The Housemaid after two significant wins for their outstanding careers. Sweeney revitalized the romantic comedy genre with her 2023 film Anyone But You, starring Sweeney and Glen Powell (Top Gun: Maverick, Twisters) as a combative couple trying to pose as lovers. Meanwhile, Seyfried won an Emmy for her show-stopping role as Elizabeth Holmes in the Hulu medical drama The Dropout.

The Housemaid should provide Sweeney and Seyfried with lots of space to strut their acting chops, as dark secrets tend to bring out the worst in those who try to keep skeletons in closets.

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We’ve seen vampires take many different forms over the years. We’ve got the more classic monster types and the more seductive, sexy types. As a big Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan, I’ve always liked a combination of both. Based on the 2010 novel of the same name, The Radleys follows a family in Britain as they try to hide the fact that they’re vampires. And I use the term vampire loosely because, while they may feature similar attributes, there are nearly just as many traits given to the vampires that don’t exactly fit the lore. I’m not sure I can ever jive with that style but those less into the horror side of things may get a kick out of it. While I loved some of the performances, the movie didn’t entirely land with me.

I talked to star Damian Lewis about his role(s) in The Radleys. See, Damian plays twin vampires and they could not be more different. Peter is more levelheaded and boring, making the decision to not drink blood anymore for his family. But his twin Will is absolutely diabolical. So I had fun picking Damian’s brain about playing the two characters. As expected, there seemed to be a slight favorability towards evil Will. He was also sure to praise his co-star Kelly Macdonald who is great as wife, Helen. Check out the interview above!

THE RADLEYS plot synopsis:

Award-winning actors Kelly Macdonald (No Country For Old Men) and Damian Lewis (“Billions,” Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood) star in a dark comedy- thriller about a seemingly average suburban family with a juicy secret: they are vampires. In the light of day, the Radleys might seem normal, but they can only abstain from their natural cravings for so long until the bloody truth bubbles to the surface and turns their quiet country life upside down.

THE RADLEYS will be in Theaters, On Digital and On Demand October 4, 2024.

The post Interview: Damian Lewis Talks Being A Vampire In The Radleys appeared first on JoBlo.

We’ve seen vampires take many different forms over the years. We’ve got the more classic monster types and the more seductive, sexy types. As a big Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan, I’ve always liked a combination of both. Based on the 2010 novel of the same name, The Radleys follows a family in Britain as they try to hide the fact that they’re vampires. And I use the term vampire loosely because, while they may feature similar attributes, there are nearly just as many traits given to the vampires that don’t exactly fit the lore. I’m not sure I can ever jive with that style but those less into the horror side of things may get a kick out of it. While I loved some of the performances, the movie didn’t entirely land with me.

I talked to star Damian Lewis about his role(s) in The Radleys. See, Damian plays twin vampires and they could not be more different. Peter is more levelheaded and boring, making the decision to not drink blood anymore for his family. But his twin Will is absolutely diabolical. So I had fun picking Damian’s brain about playing the two characters. As expected, there seemed to be a slight favorability towards evil Will. He was also sure to praise his co-star Kelly Macdonald who is great as wife, Helen. Check out the interview above!

THE RADLEYS plot synopsis: Award-winning actors Kelly Macdonald (No Country For Old Men) and Damian Lewis (“Billions,” Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood) star in a dark comedy- thriller about a seemingly average suburban family with a juicy secret: they are vampires. In the light of day, the Radleys might seem normal, but they can only abstain from their natural cravings for so long until the bloody truth bubbles to the surface and turns their quiet country life upside down.

THE RADLEYS will be in Theaters, On Digital and On Demand October 4, 2024.

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About two years ago, we heard that Halle Berry had signed on to star in a horror movie called Mother Land, with genre regular Alexandre Aja on board to direct. Last year, the project went into production under a new title, Never Let Go. The finished film was given a theatrical release on September 20th (you can read our review HERE)… and it didn’t exactly set the box office on fire. It has only earned $21 million worldwide. Now it’s time for the movie to receive a PVOD release, so maybe it will be more successful when people are able to watch it in the comfort of their own homes. Lionsgate has announced they will be giving Never Let Go a Premium Video on Demand and Premium Electronic Sell-Through release on October 11th. A press release notes that the film “will be available to buy for $24.99 and to rent for $19.99 (for a 48-hour period) on participating digital platforms from which movies are purchased, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Google Play, Fandango at Home, and more.”

Berry is joined in the cast by Percy Daggs IV (The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey) and Anthony B. Jenkins (Florida Man). Shawn Levy, Dan Cohen, and Dan Levine of 21 Laps (the production company behind Stranger Things and Free Guy, among other things) are producing the film with Aja. Berry is executive producing alongside Holly Jeter and 21 Laps’ Emily Morris. Chelsea Kujawa and Scott O’Brien are overseeing the project for Lionsgate.

Scripted by KC Coughlin and Ryan Grassby, Never Let Go follows a mother (Berry) and her fraternal twin sons (Daggs and Jenkins) who have been tormented by an evil spirit for years and are convinced to never let go of their family’s protective bond. But when one of the boys questions if the evil is real, their connection is severed, triggering a terrifying fight for survival. Here’s a different version of the synopsis: As Evil takes over the world beyond their front doorstep, the only protection for a mother (Berry) and her twin sons is their house and their family’s protective bond. Needing to stay connected at all times – even tethering themselves with ropes – they cling to one another, urging each other to never let go. But when one of the boys questions if the evil is real, the ties that bind them together are severed, triggering a terrifying fight for survival.

Aja’s previous directing credits include High Tension, The Hills Have Eyes, Mirrors, Piranha 3D, Horns, The 9th Life of Louis Drax, Crawl, and Oxygen. We first heard about Never Let Go (then known as Mother Land) over three years ago, when it was announced that Mark Romanek had signed on to direct the film. There were eight years between Romanek’s first film One Hour Photo and his second feature Never Let Me Go, and it looked like this was going to be his third movie. Eleven years (at the time) after Never Let Me Go. But then Romanek dropped out, Aja signed on, and the project got a title that’s quite similar to the title of Romanek’s second feature. Now we continue to wait and see if Romanek is going to make a third feature.

Will you be watching Never Let Go when it gets its PVOD release? Let us know by leaving a comment below – and if you caught the movie during its theatrical run, let us know what you thought of it.

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The live-action TV series based on the Goosebumps books written by R.L. Stine that was released through the Disney+ and Hulu streaming services last October (read our review HERE) drew inspiration from five of Stine’s Goosebumps stories (Say Cheese and Die!, The Haunted Mask, The Cuckoo Clock of Doom, Go Eat Worms!, and Night of the Living Dummy). More Stine stories will be brought to the screen in Goosebumps season 2 – and now we know when the season is going to premiere! A short teaser has dropped online to reveal that the new season is called Goosebumps: The Vanishing, and poster art has confirmed a January 10 premiere date.

The imagery also makes it look like Goosebumps: The Vanishing has some kind of Venom tie-in, but that’s not the case.

The first season of Goosebumps centered on a group of five high schoolers as they embark on a shadowy and twisted journey to investigate the tragic passing three decades earlier of a teen named Harold Biddle — while also unearthing dark secrets from their parents’ past. The show is taking the anthology route, so we can expect a second season that has “an entirely new cast and setting based on Stine’s iconic Scholastic book series.” Season 2 will also consist of eight episodes, two shorter than the first season.

Season 2 will pick up when teenage siblings discover a threat within their home, setting off a chain of events that unravel a profound mystery. As they delve into the unknown, the duo find themselves entangled in the story of five teenagers who mysteriously vanished in 1994.

The cast of Goosebumps: The Vanishing includes Arjun Athalye (Are You Afraid of the Dark?), Eloise Payet (The End of the Party), Christopher Paul Richards (The Kids Are Alright), Kyra Tantao (Zombies 3), Stony Blyden (American Born Chinese), and Sakina Jaffrey (Billions), and the only details that have been shared about their characters are their names. As Deadline reported, “Athalye plays Sameer; Payet is Hannah; Richards plays Matty; Tantao portrays Nicole; Blyden is Trey and Jaffrey portrays Ramona.” Also in the cast are Sam McCarthy (Dead to Me) and Jayden Bartels (Side Hustle) as fraternal twins Devin and Cece, respectively; Elijah Cooper (That Girl Lay Lay) as CJ; Galilea La Salvia (Party Down) as Frankie; Francesca Noel (R#J) as Alex; and Ana Ortiz (Devious Maids) as Jen, “a dedicated police detective who remains rooted in her Brooklyn neighborhood after experiencing a tragic event that involved her friends in adolescence.” Friends‘ David Schwimmer is also in there as Anthony, “a former botany professor and divorced parent of teenage girls who is juggling the responsibilities of overseeing an aging parent while having his kids for the summer.“ The twins Devin and Cece are the children of Schwimmer’s Anthony.

Rob Letterman, who directed the first Goosebumps movie, created this series with Nick Stoller, and Hilary Winston serves as showrunner on the new season. Stoller is executive producing the show through his company Stoller Global Solutions. Letterman and Winston are also executive producing Goosebumps alongside Neal H. Moritz and Pavun Shetty of Original Film, Conor Welch of Stoller Global Solutions, and Erin O’Malley. The show comes to us from Sony Pictures Television Studios.

Are you a Goosebumps fan, and are you looking forward to Goosebumps: The Vanishing? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

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They’re creepy and they’re kooky, mysterious and spooky, they’re all together ooky…Core cast members from The Addams Family reunited at this past weekend’s Los Angeles Comic Con, more than 30 years since they first brought the gothic family to the big screen.

Gathering for the event was Christina Ricci (Wednesday), Anjelcia Huston (matriarch Morticia), Christopher Lloyd (Uncle Fester), Jimmy Workman (Pugsley), and Carel Struycken (butler Lurch). Of course, the Addams Family reunion was obviously missing the late Raul Julia, who brought a whole new energy to father Gomez. In fact, Gomez died less than one year after the release of 1993’s Addams Family Values, succumbing to a stroke after battling other illnesses. It would be his final film released during his life, with Street Fighter being posthumously released.

But Julia’s presence was still felt by his Addams family, with Anjelica Huston remembering him as “the perfect gentleman. He was always the first on set and the last to leave. He was a great dancer. I’d get really grumpy around dancing rehearsals, which I felt were unnecessary since I was such an excellent dancer. But he would insist on being there and staying all the way through…He’d always sing, between scenes and between takes. He always sang full opera! He kept us entertained.” This shouldn’t be much of a surprise considering Julia’s history on the stage, with four Tony nominations throughout his career.

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The Addams Family – which is based on Charles Addams’ comics – was a smash upon release, taking in more than $100 million domestically and becoming one of the highest-grossing movies of 1991. While the sequel didn’t do nearly as well, the property has reached new heights in popularity, with Netflix’s Wednesday proving to be one of the streamer’s biggest hits. There, too, have been a pair of animated features. And who can forget the iconic pinball game, which is still the best-selling ever? (For real completists and horror road trippers, I’d recommend checking out the so-called “Addams Family house” in Westfield, New Jersey, the town in which Charles Addams and took much inspiration from; this house in particular inspired the clan’s home.)

Were you a fan of The Addams Family and its sequel growing up? What is your favorite Raul Julia performance? Let us know below!

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It’s time to step into the Colosseum with the new featurette of Gladiator II. Paramount Pictures has released this brand-new look with director Ridley Scott and his stars Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Connie Nielsen and Denzel Washington. The featurette shows just how grand a production this was and Scott was already coming off of another historical epic, Napoleon. As Washington puts it, “This is the biggest film I’ve been on. It’s huge! Cecil B. DeMille on steroids!”

Here is the plot of Gladiator II, as per Paramount: “From legendary director Ridley Scott, Gladiator II continues the epic saga of power, intrigue, and vengeance set in Ancient Rome. Years after witnessing the death of the revered hero Maximus at the hands of his uncle, Lucius (Paul Mescal) is forced to enter the Colosseum after his home is conquered by the tyrannical Emperors who now lead Rome with an iron fist. With rage in his heart and the future of the Empire at stake, Lucius must look to his past to find strength and honor to return the glory of Rome to its people.”

The cast includes Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Joseph Quinn, Fred Hechinger, Lior Raz, Derek Jacobi, with Connie Nielsen and Denzel Washington. The screenplay was penned by David Scarpa.

While Ridley Scott and the studio are hyping this film up as the biggest movie either have ever been involved with, many skeptics who are fans of the original still view it as unnecessary as the story had a fitting end with Maximus’ story coming to a close. However, Scott is already intent on turning his saga into a trilogy. As he put it, “I’m already playing with the idea of Gladiator 3. No, seriously. The end of Gladiator II evokes that of the Godfather, with Michael Corleone who ends up with a job he didn’t want, and who wonders, ‘And now, Father, what am I doing? ‘The next film will therefore speak of a man who does not want to be where he is.”

Gladiator II is rated R for “strong bloody violence” and is set to hit theaters on November 22, the same day as Wicked.

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Netflix continues to clean house as the streamer evaluates which shows they opt to continue making. Earlier, That 90s Show fell victim to cancellation. Now, according to Deadline, Netflix has decided not to renew the Jeff Goldblum high-concept series, KAOS. It had been confirmed by one of the show’s stars, Aurora Perrineau, in a now-deleted Instagram post.

In the deleted post, Perrineau said, “Well… this one hurts. I find explaining how I’m feeling to be really difficult, but I’ll try. When I started auditioning for this show, I knew it was special, mainly due to the fact that Charlie Covell’s scripts resonated with me in a way most things hadn’t. I knew all of these people, and I loved them all — every flaw, everything.”

She would conclude by saying, “Everyone was brilliant and uniquely themselves. Every performance surprised and excited me. I can’t believe I got to do this with all of you. We made something weird, dark, hilarious, deranged and absolutely tragic – something entirely human. THIS is a feeling I plan to take with me.”

KAOS was a dark comedy series from creator Charlie Covell and writer Georgia Christou. Georgi Banks-Davis directs five episodes of KOAS, while Runyararo Mapfumo shoots the remaining three. Jeff Goldblum leads the cast, including Perrieau, Debi Mazar, Fady Elsayed, Sam Buttery, Matthew Koon, Elander Moore, Susan Wooldridge, Shila Ommi, and Amanda Douge.

Here’s the official synopsis for KAOS courtesy of Netflix:

Zeus has long enjoyed his status as King of The Gods. That is until he wakes up one morning and discovers a wrinkle on his forehead. Neurosis sets in, setting him off on a dangerous, paranoid path. Zeus becomes convinced his fall is coming – and starts to see signs of it everywhere.

Zeus’ once reliable brother, Hades, God of the Underworld, is secretly losing his grip on his dark dominion. There is a backlog of dead waiting to be processed and they are growing restless. Hera (Janet McTeer), Queen of the Gods, exercises dominion on Earth — and over Zeus — in her own unique way. But her power and freedom become threatened by Zeus’ growing paranoia, and she is forced to act, while Zeus’ rebellious son, Dionysus, (Nabhaan Rizwan), is out of control and on course for a cosmic collision with his father.

On Earth people are aching for change, however Poseidon (Cliff Curtis), God of Sea, Storms and Earthquakes (and Horses) is more concerned with the size of his super-yacht and where the next party is at. The wellbeing of mere mortals is of little interest to him. Unfortunately for the Gods some of those mortals are beginning to realise this…

These mortals – Riddy (Aurora Perrineau), Orpheus (Killian Scott), Caneus (Misia Butler) and Ari (Leila Farzad) – come from different walks of life and are all cosmically connected in the battle against Zeus. Each one has a very different role to play, any one of them may be destined to bring down the Gods.

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Back in 1980, author Philip Nicholson, writing as A. J. Quinnell, introduced the world to a man named Creasy, an American-born former French Foreign Legion soldier, in the pages of his novel Man on Fire. While Creasy would return for four more novels – The Perfect Kill (1992), The Blue Ring (1993), Black Horn (1994), and Message From Hell (1996) – it’s Man on Fire that has received the most attention over the year, being turned into a film that starred Scott Glenn in 1987 and one that starred Denzel Washington in 2004. Now, Man on Fire is serving as the basis of a Netflix TV series that’s set to star Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Aquaman) as Creasey – and The Hollywood Reporter has broken the news that Alice Braga (Queen of the South), Scoot McNairy (Speak No Evil), and Paul Ben-Victor (Nobody Wants This) have signed on to play recurring roles on the show.

We previously heard that Bobby Cannavale, who recently starred in the hit Netflix series The Watcher, will be a guest star. Cannavale is taking on the role of Paul Rayburn, an “ex-Special Forces soldier who possesses a unique ability to read people. He is charming, nurturing, and protective of those he cares for. Despite his warm, fatherly nature, his years of service in the field have given him an acute awareness of violence and human behavior. Quick-witted and incredibly intellectual, he is likely to have all the answers, and if not, he will find them.” Also in the cast is Billie Boullet, who played Anne Frank in the recent Nat Geo limited series A Small Light. Boullet’s character here is Poe Rayburn, who has “the lanky lines of someone growing at a rapid and confusing pace and the attitude that comes with it. She is unhappy about moving to Brazil because of her parent’s decision, spending her days with her wealthy international classmates until a tragic incident changes her perspective on family and life. As the only witness to a terrifying event, Poe quickly learns that her only ally is John Creasy.“

Here’s the logline for the show: Once a high functioning and skilled Special Forces Mercenary, known for surviving even the most desolate of situations, Creasy (Mateen) is now plagued with intense PTSD. Determined to overcome his personal demons, he sets out on a path to redemption. But, before he can adjust to this new life, he finds himself back in the fire, fighting harder than ever.

Alice Braga’s character is Valeria Melo, “a professional driver with family connections to a gang that runs a favela in Brazil. Creasy hires her and quickly comes to rely on her as he tries to protect a young girl while pursuing terrorists.” Scoot McNairy will be playing Henry Tappan, “an intelligent and calculating CIA field agent stationed in Brazil.” Paul Ben-Victor is Moncrief, the director of the CIA.

Kyle Killen (Fear Street) is the writer, executive producer, and showrunner – and if you’re a Quinnell fan who has seen enough of the Man on Fire story of the years, you might be glad to hear that Killen is working elements of the novel The Perfect Kill into this eight-episode show as well.

Are you looking forward to the Man on Fire TV series? What do you think of Alice Braga, Scoot McNairy, and Paul Ben-Victor joining the cast? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

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